HYDERABAD: ‘Dung Se Labs’, a material design innovation startup based in Gujarat, showcased its innovation -- acoustic dung panels -- that use cattle dung to reduce noise in office spaces at the “Grand Startup Conclave on Animal Husbandry and Dairy” held at the Marriott Convention Centre on Tuesday.
Sonika Pulluru, a representative of the startup, told TNIE that the acoustic panels can absorb noise, helping reduce it in a corporate or institutional setup. The startup also showcased its dungplastic and dungwood panels.
Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala, the chief guest at the event, was all praise for ‘Organiko,’ a startup based in Noida, which sells a variety of beauty soaps made of donkey milk. These products have anti-aging, nutraceutical, antibiotic and nutritional properties.
“Donkey’s milk is the costliest in the world. It is sold at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,300 per litre. Imagine the scope it has. A donkey gives 1.5 litre milk a day, which comes to around 2,000 litres per animal, and it has no investment,” Rupala said in his inaugural address.
Pooja Kaur, the startup’s representative, told TNIE that there are presently only 1.25 lakh donkeys left in the country. Skin extracts from donkeys have medicinal properties and are being used to make botox by countries like China, she said.
Cornext, a startup based in Hyderabad, has not only been selling silage, but has also innovated a mini silage baler that can produce up to 60-80 kg of fodder. The shelf-life of the feed in the bales is months.
According to Madhav Kashatriya, MD of Cornext, using maize in the feed, the company’s product offers higher productivity and profitability for dairy farmers. The silage baler, which costs around Rs 2 crore abroad, has been innovated to suit Indian conditions and is being sold at around Rs 10 lakh. Cornext has won the National Startup Award in 2020.
Shreeja Mahila Milk Producer Company Limited, a FPO of all-women dairy farmers, is one success story which is being supported by the National Dairy Development Board. The initiative which started in Chittoor of Andhra Pradesh with 420 women farmers in 2014, rose to 1,020 members in 2022. Theirs is a story of empowering women while making them economically independent and dairying profitable.